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Introverts

“Small talk with strangers is my kryptonite.”

~Stephanie

11 Things You Should Know About Introverts

1) We need to recharge alone

This right here is the cusp of the entire introvert vs. extrovert debate (if there is one, anyway) — Introverts need to be alone to recharge. We tend to get completely worn out by socializing. This is basically what it means to be an introvert.

2) We don’t hate being around people, but we probably hate crowds

I love being with people, but if you drop me into a large crowd I instantly feel like I’m alone and invisible. I try to avoid situations where I feel that way, so I may decline your open invitation to some random event. It doesn’t mean I don’t like to be around you, it just means I like to have more control over my surroundings.

3) We don’t mind silence

I can sit beside you in silence and not think we are having a bad time. This is especially true on road trips and can be a little confounding to true extroverts. For this reason, I especially like going to the movies where it is already considered rude to chat. Rule #1 for dealing with introverts — Don’t tell me I’m “too quiet.” I hate that. Sorry I’m making you uncomfortable, but you really don’t get to decide how much I have to talk.

4) Just because we are introverted doesn’t mean we are shy

Introvert and shy are actually two different things. Google it! In my case, I’m a shy introvert (the double whammy!).

5) We can turn on an extroverted personality when necessary, but it is especially draining

See #1 and #2. I have no problem getting up in front of a group of people and giving a talk. I don’t even get nervous by a question and answer period. But — here is the thing — I will need major recharge time afterwards and I won’t be able to keep up this extroverted illusion all day. I can turn it on to dazzle a crowd, but if you take me out for lunch afterwards, I’ll probably just listen to you talk. I am an excellent listener.

6) We aren’t judging you

See #3. Did I get quiet? Do I have a mean look on my face? I’m not judging you; I’m just wrapped up in my thoughts with my resting-face on. I might have even forgotten you were there. Sorry, just poke me. I didn’t do it on purpose.

7) We secretly love it when you cancel plans

I like being with you, but finding out I suddenly don’t need to be “on” and it wasn’t actually me that backed out? — priceless! Don’t worry if you have to cancel, I’m probably thrilled to be able to stay in my pajamas.

8) We can get very wrapped up in our own thoughts

My inner monologue is epic. When you have a strong monologue constantly running in the background, it is pretty easy to settle-in and listen for a while. I have to work through things in my head before I proceed, so I usually need a few minutes. When I’m ready to move forward though, I am 100% on top of it!

9) We can be pretty bad at connecting

You know when you have had a really bad day and you just want to call up a friend and chat? Yeah, I’m bad at that. I tend to wait for extroverts to reach out and include me, so when the time comes that I need support, I can be a bit lost.

10) We don’t like to hang around

That time after an event or meeting ends and stragglers hang around to talk — yeah, I know this is the perfect time to make more plans, connect with new people, and get involved with future projects, but I really really really hate this. I’m probably already checking my phone in my car before you have even picked up your purse. Small talk with strangers is my kryptonite.

11) We have strong opinions

Just because I have difficultly sharing them sometimes doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions. Give me an extra minute to compose my thoughts and I will continue to push myself to speak up sooner. It is a give and take here.

BMSS Addendum by Gregg Prescott:

BMSS Addendum: On #2, we really don’t hate people or crowds… it’s just that most of us are empaths and we absorb everyone’s energies so it’s a lot easier staying away from crowds than being immersed in them. For me, if I were to go to some gala event, you would most likely find me near the outer wall of the room watching everyone and saying very little. Some would call this “antisocial” but as an introvert I know that it’s something that’s misunderstood by those who aren’t introverted.

If you’re an introvert (which is only about 25% of the population), don’t change yourself to appease anyone else. Just keep being YOU!

It is said that we are a product of our environment and when we are young, lasting impressions are burned into our minds about what love is, how the world works and what we ought to do when we are older.

As if settling down, getting married and having children is the benchmark for success. But who is really to say what happiness is and what it looks like?

Maybe some of us are perfectly happy, just being alone…

1. Dogmas and social conditioning don’t phase you

You have navigated the emotional concourse of societal expectation and found that it just doesn’t resonate with you. Instead you listen to your heart and follow your inner voice, wherever it might lead.

2. You screen your phone calls

If you find yourself waiting to respond to text messages and emails after they light up on your screen, this is a sure-fire sign that you prefer your privacy. Setting your own boundaries for what you allow into your personal zone and when.

3. You aren’t desperate to make plans on the weekends

You are confident enough in yourself and do not seek externally for the temporary and fleeting satisfaction that others bring. You prefer to set your own schedule and make plans that you know you’ll enjoy.

4. You enjoy your freedom

A cluttered calendar leaves no time for numero uno and you strive to clear off as many duties as you can, to allow more time for your own personal freedom.

5. You are confident as a party for one

You are complete and well-rounded and don’t feel uncomfortable being the ‘fifth wheel’, neither do you mind eating alone. You find clingy couples a bit needy and prefer others who are more self-reliant.

6. You put yourself first

You don’t allow the pressures of others to persuade you from achieving what you want to get out of life. You know that every minute is precious and you always make the most of it.

7. You do what you want when you want

You follow your gut and trust your instincts. You find that living in the flow of life, is the best way to stay balanced and centered.

8. You’re genuinely happy

Constantly being bombarded with people can be draining, especially for an introvert like you. Being alone brings you happiness, and relieves you from all of the personal drama of others. Being genuinely happy means being happy with yourself. When you love and accept yourself, you become all that you will ever need. It is then a choice to be with others and share your gift to the world.

9. You bask in peace and quiet

You would prefer to live in the countryside, or outside of the city. Apartment buildings and condominiums are a living nightmare for you. You strive to take time out in nature, finding remote spots with serene views to just read a book or meditate.

10. You enjoy your own company

You prefer dining, watching movies, taking a walk in nature or exercising by yourself and are very comfortable in doing so. You laugh at your own jokes, and enjoy the lightness of just being you.

11. You sleep better alone

Cuddling is nice, for a few minutes… and then the blanket war, leg war and breathing war all begin. Quite simply, a nice big bed all to yourself is your vision of perfection.

12. You are a deep thinker

Last but not least, you prefer the time and space to be with your own thoughts and highly regard this time. You enjoy the self exploration and inner transformation of giving yourself the moments needed to just think it out.

In this article we discuss, why you love being a deep thinker. Deep thinkers dive into their soul and every essence of being more conscious, so being a deep thinker is great.

It has been once said that we are a product of the environment, when we were young, society has burned into our mind what love should be, how this planet works and what we will be doing when we reach old age.

It seems today’s benchmark and success is to get married and have children. But no one can really tell you what happiness is and what it would look like. Some people are perfectly fine being alone.

Deep Thinker Definition:

Definition of a deep thinker is someone who thinks beyond the obvious, someone who has profound thoughts and very intellectual. I am sure you can relate to this?

Can Being A Deep Thinker Be Curse Or A Gift?

It can be a curse if friends and family tell you that you are sensitive and you don’t have the channels to make sense of the insights you are getting from within.

However it is also the greatest gift if you have the channels to apply what you have recognized when you are going deep with your thoughts and views. The channels have to be stable emotionally, so you have the push to go forward and be practical with your observations.

Signs Of A Deep Thinker

Social Conditioning Never Phases You

You have found what society can offer and it does not resonate with you, it never meets your expectations. You are one who follows their heart and soul instead.

Never Alert To Cell Phones

You don’t constantly check your cell phone, or when you receive a text or email you wait and respond when you feel you are ready. This is for sure a sign you are a deep thinker and you prefer privacy. You have boundaries for what you permit into personal life.

Never To Make Plans

You are never seeking external satisfaction by others instead you make plans that suit you even if it means means being on your own.

Love Your Freedom

You allow time for yourself and personal freedom. You know that cluttered calender means there is no time for yourself.

You Are Confident On Your Own

Another sing of a deep thinker is that, you are complete and enjoy being on your own, you don’t mind eating alone. You don’t like clingy people and prefer someone who is self reliant.

You Put Yourself First

You are never pressured by others, no one can persuade you, you do whats best for you. You also know that time is precious and make the most of it.

You Follow Your Instincts

You are one who trusts their intuitions. You find the best way to live your life and keeping yourself balanced is to flow through it.

You Are Happy

You are an introvert but a happy one, too many people drain you of your happiness. You are genuinely happy with yourself.

Prefer Nature

Your preferred place to live would be in the countryside away from the city, nightmare places to live would be apartment buildings. You love to meditate in nature.

You Are A Deep Thinker

You love space and time to be with your own thoughts. You seem to enjoy self exploration and inner transformations.

You love nature and enjoy being on your own

You are an introvert and happy

You are intuitive

You can never be pressured by others

Prefer a simple life

Conclusion

It’s a great gift to be a deep thinker, you need to be stable in your emotions to understand and process your thoughts or you may end up being too sensitive. We know that people who are deep thinkers enjoy being alone, love nature and are never pressured by society. Does that describe you?

As I feel indebted to the shamans who saw themselves in me and helped me understand why I have always felt like I don’t belong in mainstream medicine, the intention of this article is to respectfully honor the shamanic tradition, and not to violate it in any way.
Because modern culture doesn’t have a role for the shamanic archetype, many people who grow up outside indigenous villages are shamans and don’t know it. Many naturally wind up in overtly healing professions, such as medicine, psychology, or life coaching. But some wind up in professions where they may feel like they don’t fit in at all. Even those who enter the healing professions may feel out of place, because the systems of Western medicine and psychology leave little room for a shaman to practice his or her natural healing art. But many will wind up in various forms of sacred activism, healing the planet, for example, rather than healing people.

Are you a shaman and you don’t know it? Here are some telltale signs that you might fit the archetype.

1. You sense that you’re meant to participate in the global shift in consciousness that is currently underway.

We can all feel it, this impending shift that New Agers have talked about for decades. But those with the shamanic archetype don’t just feel it, they feel it pulling them, like a magnet, towards leadership positions that help facilitate this transformation of human consciousness and evolution of the species.

2. You’ve been through a difficult initiation, which has prepared you for this leadership role.

In indigenous cultures, the village knew who the shaman was because he or she was struck by lightning and survived. In modern culture, you may not literally be struck by lightning, but you may have survived some other life or heart-threatening ordeal. You may have experienced childhood abuse, sexual violence, a near-death experience, or some other trauma that put you through the crucible and forged you into the healing earth shaman you are becoming.

3. You are an introvert.

Shamans are multi-dimensional beings who dance between the realms of the seen and unseen worlds, so if you’re of the shamanic archetype, you may have a hard time navigating the 3D realms of this dimension, which may cause you to withdraw into yourself so you can visit the realms of consciousness where you feel most at home.

4. You feel most at home in nature.

The shamans of a culture are the bridges between nature and humans, serving as translators between the mountains, oceans, rivers, animals, and people. You may sense that nature is talking to you or that you get your most tuned in downloads when you are surrounded by the natural world.

5. You’re very sensitive.

You may feels things others don’t feel, see things others don’t see, hear things others don’t hear, smell things others don’t smell, and sense things others don’t sense. This may make it hard for you to be out in public, where you may feel accosted by over-stimulation of your senses. If you embody the shamanic archetype, it’s likely that you’re the kind of person others may feel is “too sensitive.” But this sensitivity is a blessing. It’s part of your gift.

6. You feel a sort of spiritual calling to ease the suffering of people, animals, and nature.

Many health care providers are called to medicine the way priests are called to the priesthood. But you don’t have to be a health care provider to have the shamanic archetype. It may transmute itself into healing service to animals, sacred activist causes, or conservation of Mother Earth.

7. Physical ailments that fall under the category of “shaman sickness.”

In the indigenous cultures, shamans who have been called to service but haven’t yet said “yes” to the call often wind up struck with physical ailments. In modern culture, these shamanic sicknesses may fall into difficult to treat categories like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease, chronic pain disorders, and autoimmune disorders. Acceptance of the call to shamanic service often resolves the symptoms of shaman sickness. If you’re suffering from one of these illnesses, ask yourself, “Am I a shaman who hasn’t said yes to my calling yet?”

8. You tend to have vivid dreams.

The unseen realm may be communicating with you through your dreams, so try analyzing your dreams. Pay particular attention to any animal totems that may appear in your dreams. Google search the animal and “spirit totem” and see if you can find any messages from the animals in your dreams. Or try a Jungian analysis, like the one described here.

9. You may discover unusual spiritual superpowers, or what the yogis call “siddhis.”

You might be psychic. You might get healing visions like the one in my previous post about the meeting of Western medicine and Shamanism. You might realize that you can heal people with your hands or that you can telepathically communicate with animals, people, or even inanimate objects.

10. You’ve always felt like you don’t quite belong anywhere, because you are a bridge.

Shamans tend to live on the outskirts of the village for a reason. They are not like the others – and this is a blessing! In village life, this is understood and recognized. But in the modern world, it may leave those with the shamanic archetype feeling like they don’t ever fit in. But don’t despair. You DO fit in. Your role is essential. You may find that you fit in best with others who share this shamanic archetype. Among your fellow shamans, you will feel like you are with family.

Embrace Your Bridge Work

Because shamans are always operating between worlds, you may find that you’re connecting mainstream culture and the culture that wants to be born in the new consciousness, and this may feel uncomfortable, as if you don’t quite fit in. When I realized that I am a bridge between mainstream medicine and the new world of medicine that is being co-created by others who share the shamanic archetype, it brought me such a profound sense of relief! This relief is shared by the health care providers who participate in the Whole Health Medicine Institute, which I founded for doctors and other stealth shamans. If you’re one of those bridge workers, please know that you belong with all the other stealth shamans in this program, designed to merge medicine and spirituality, and we’re enrolling for the 2016 class now.

In our culture, it can be quite challenging to be a stealth shaman. Yes, it’s a blessing to have the opportunity to help people end the story of separation, to dissolve the apparent duality into Oneness, to fulfill our callings to bring the worlds together, to heal people, animals, and the planet. But it can be lonely and disheartening and scary and isolating. I sense that many of us stealth shaman bridge workers have scores of past lives during which we were persecuted for our attempts to connect the worlds, so no matter how much we know in our hearts that we are all One and we DO belong, we have cellular memories of past traumas, during which we were literally killed because we refused to fit in. So it takes tremendous courage to come out of the spiritual closet as someone who embodies the shamanic archetype. In order to keep being brave, we need to feel safe. To feel safe, we need to foster a sense of belonging so we don’t feel isolated on top of feeling scared. In order to feel safe enough to keep bridging, we need each other.

Are you a shaman who is still in the closet? If so, please know that there are many of us, and we hold you close in our hearts while you muster up the moxie to claim your place in the world.

-Help ‘Limitless Minds’ to raise the vibration by sharing this article with your friends and family

I’m a recluse as much as the next guy… At least, that’s what I thought.

After a recent move to a city that welcomed one too many nights out and one too many clubs to name, I came to the harsh realization that my aversion to nights out and the company of others was not normal and I was coming off as, well, rude.

I thought there was nothing wrong with choosing to spend Friday night in the company of myself and my empty apartment.

I thought it was okay to enjoy walking alone more than with a friend. I thought it was healthy to relish in all those moments of solitude.

To people trying to be my friend, or at least use me as a pawn in their game of nights out, I was the antithesis of everything they wanted.

I tried to make myself go out more, push myself to spend Friday nights in the company of others and try to enjoy all that mindless chit chat that came with money spent on too many drinks.

Soon, I began to hate myself and those around me. I started worrying about insignificant nonsense that shouldn’t bother me.

And after one too many nights spent around everyone but myself, I decided that enough was enough and I would spend as much time alone as I ******* please.

I like my company, even if it’s just a little too much, because there’s something beautiful about being at peace with yourself. There’s something comforting about knowing I can come home to myself every night and love it.

There should be more respect for people who can relish in themselves. There should be more admiration for those who aren’t scared of being alone.

There should be some nice words about the loners and the introverts who are content with themselves and don’t need anyone to feel better.

Because loving your alone time is many times a lot healthier than hating it. Those who bask in their own company are the ones with significantly fewer worries than those who need to be around people to fill that void.

The loners, introverts and asocial people of the world are the ones spending their time creating and growing from themselves, rather than worrying about what everyone else is thinking.

They never worry about how they come off

People who like to be alone are more secure than those who are so good at showing face. They are the ones who are never second guessing their actions or working on their appearance.

They don’t care what people think of them because they, themselves, are their harshest critics.

They never worry about what they just said

The only times people who like their alone time are going out is with people who deserve their shared time. They don’t spend it with people who will judge them or people they worry about taking what they said the wrong way.

They don’t spend hours lying in their beds thinking about what they said or didn’t say back there. They are confident around the people they choose to talk to.

They never worry about acting like they have something to prove

People who enjoy their own company are not the types to put on airs. They never have to act like they have something to prove because they never have anyone to prove anything to.

When you meet them, you will see they are completely themselves, because that’s who matters to them. If you don’t like them, that’s just one fewer person they need to worry about hanging out with.

They’re never worried about doing things they don’t want to do

They don’t sit in bed wishing they didn’t have to go to a party where they hate most of the people just so they won’t spend Saturday night stuck with their own thoughts.

They never replace alone time with empty interactions. Their solitude is never rationalized or bargained for by trivial moments with undeserving people.

They’re never worried about ending up alone

They don’t have that irrational fear of never finding someone. If anything, they fear they will never understand how to share their alone time.

They don’t date people just for the company or settle for unfulfilled love just so they won’t end up alone.

They never worry about finding something to say

Because they’re not constantly putting themselves around others, they’re not constantly searching for new topics and talking points.

They know who they are and what they like and they don’t have to pretend to be interested in things just to keep the conversation going.

They never worry about missing out on something

They never have fear of missing out because there’s no place they’d rather be than with themselves. They don’t find it a wasted evening when they don’t go out.

In fact, they see it as the opposite. In our hectic schedules, getting a night to ourselves is easier said than done.

They never worry about being single

They search for meaning in themselves and take pride in that relationship. They don’t need to feel validated by the significant others they’re supposed to have.

They make sure they are completely in love with themselves before they worry about finding someone else to love.

They never worry about needing time to think

They spend their alone time exploring all the unexamined spaces of their mind. They don’t go to parties or friends’ houses wishing they could just have a moment to think, alone.

They are constantly thinking and constantly wondering. They are never without moments to ponder those questions that need time.

They never worry about having to lie or exaggerate

Their lives are complete by themselves. They don’t have to name drop or worry about being cool enough around the people they’re with because they don’t care about impressing current company or making new acquaintances.

They aren’t about collecting friends or racking up phone numbers. They know who they are and there’s no need to exaggerate about that.